15235 réponses à ce sujet

[Wierdo]

Grond0 wrote...

Alesia_BH wrote...
Btw. I think I'm going to take a little break from play. It recently occurred to me that it would make sense to study real-world longevity at least as well as I've studied "longevity" in the Baldur's Gate world. Consequently, I'm going to spend sometime reading up on diet and exercise regiments.

It sounds like you might still be planning to do the odd post Alesia, but even if that's the case this would be a good moment to say thanks for all your input.  You've managed the tricky task of making your posts both entertaining and enlightening.

I second that. I'll miss your posts. I hope that you follow our adventures for at least a while though.

My game just crashed after seeing Melissan for the first time, and then getting into a fight with a resurfaced Irenicus, Bodhi and Imoen-Ravager. I suspected this would happen!  Might help if I don't go to do Christmas shopping in between evil rants.

Grond0 wrote...

Wierdo wrote...
Eventually, some time in the new year, I think I'll start off again in BG1 with a male, evil, half-Orc fighter/assassin named Razor. I know this class isn't normally possible in BG2 (as assassin is a kit and normally you only get kit options for pure classes), but it is possible in AD&D 2nd edition so I will have to Shadowkeeper him slightly.

Best of luck finishing off with Wierdo; I'll be anxiously looking in the shadows to spot Razor in due course.

Thanks! Whether Wierdo wins or not, it will have been  a great run!

[Alesia_BH]

Grond0 wrote...
It sounds like you might still be planning to do the odd post Alesia, but even if that's the case this would be a good moment to say thanks for all your input.

Sure. I won't vanish entirely. And I may get back into play fairly soon. My last "I should really do X with the time I spend playing Baldur's Gate" break ended up lasting 5 years, but this one won't be nearly as long. The things I do on ethical grounds (such a walking everywhere rather than using automobiles, and eating nothing from kingdom animalia save bivalve mollusks and an occasional arthropod) already take me pretty far along to leading a healthy lifestyle. I basically just have to work out some fineries. 

I do feel a little bad for Alessandra since she has been fun. But it's hard to deny the logic in prioritzing my own lifespan over that of my video game characters....

ussnorway wrote... @Alesia_BH; Happy trails... I'll miss you!

You've managed the tricky task of making your posts both entertaining and enlightening.

Wierdo wrote...I second that. I'll miss your posts.

That's kind of you to say. I've enjoyed your company as well of course.[smilie]http://social.bioware.com/images/forum/emoticons/smile.png[/smilie]

Wierdo wrote...
I hope that you follow our adventures for at least a while though.

Certainly.  If I could set up push notifications for Wierdo's final battles I'd do it in a second! As is, you may have to forgive me if my "Wow! That was awesome!" post ends up coming a day or two late. I'll definitely be part of the audience though.

Anyhoo. Once again: best of luck. And enjoy!

Cheers,

A.

[corey_russell]

Just a quick note: When Vessen's Uriah got disintegrated (chunked) here is the equipment lost:
* Robe of Vecna
* Staff of Air
* Martial Staff
* Tuigan's short bow
* amulet that gives extra 2nd level spell
* ring of wizardry
* ring of invisibility
* girdle of bluntness

He will be missed, but the party will continue to strive toward their goals...

[Easymask]

Greetings yet again my dear friends!

I am joining this challenge yet again(again, again!)!

The three companions, lead by Inarius' twin brother Itharius, breezed through Baldurs Gate 1 SCS with style! I truly hope they will emerge victorius in Amn!

Please allow me to introduce:

Itharius the Conjurer!


Torgaddon the Inquisitor!


and Quintos the Fighter/Thief!


(Images taken before engaging Sarevok)

I wish you all much luck out there, and I hope to be alive long enough to see you all at the end!

Condolences to you Corey for losing Uriah, I am very sad to see one of your companions fall(along with all their gear!). May Lady Luck keep a keen eye out for you.

Also, I would very much appriciate your comments - as I am sure you have noticed I need all the help I can get Alesia - so any comments after a battle of mine would be greatly appriciated! I am also sad to see that you wont be posting more about your travels for a while - as I find them to be great reads and always have the time to read them.

Onwards then, to victory!

[Easymask]

Quick update on Itharius' progress.

We have cleared the Coronet and Slaver compound, gaining both gold and experience in the battles fought. The first two ambushes also went well, this time the party was prepared and quickly took control of the battle. Itharius and our new traveling companion Aerie have proven their worth many a time so far, using Chaotic Commands, Slow and Fireballs to switly put down any aggressors.

The journey came very close to an end, when the third and by far worst ambush occured, as the Slaver Mage hit Itharius while he was completely unbuffed with Confusion(he did manage to get his invisibility off, but started attacking the Beastmen and it broke!) - I was certain everything would end right there, and just as I was about to unpause and let it run it's course; it came to mind that I now had an Inquisitor amongst my traveling companions. Torgaddon swiftly cast Dispel Magic - and saved Itharius life. Talk about close call!

The party also helped a man named Renfield and regretably got Xzar killed. He was Zentharim after all, so not too many tears where shed. The four Adventurers are now in Trademeet, seeking to solve the problems that currently plague the fine town.

(I also managed to fix my problem with Baldurs Gate 2. I have had intence lag issues, making pausing a pain - as well as moving the mouse around. Also, I have had Magic Missiles and other spells really mess up, and the shadowed areas have also looked rather bad.

After fiddling around with the Configuration program, it went from lag-hell this:


To lag-free this:


Awesome, now I can truly enjoy the game!

Modifié par Easymask, 27 novembre 2011 - 10:35 .

[Humanoid_Taifun]

More goodbyes.
Life, it seems, is nothing but a series of partings.

In that case I choose to live in the past, and make believe everybody is still here.

Sooner or later we should make a forum cemetery though. canman, frabjous, death caster... There are lots of names that will soon fall to oblivion.

[corey_russell]

Vessen the halfling priest of Lathander - FINAL SoA update

When we last heard of the party, it was Joshua (inquisitor), Lily (Blade), Minsc (ranger), Paja (druid), and Imoen (thief/mage). We decided it was time to deal with Bodhi and her allies. Joshua used the IMoD and Lily has the AoP so they tanked great. We did have to sunray twice though once when first entering the graveyard district and also the mass of undead after meeting Drizzt in Bodhi's Lair.

For Bodhi herself, we had Joshua and 5 good summons, hasted, show themselves. The party then moved up to assist. The enemies were killed quickly, and Joshua got the killing blow on Bodhi -- Bodhi could not believe she was beaten

The party did real well in Suldanessar - Vessen was quite helpful as he used the rod of smiting here. We had to engage Nizi - 5 good summons again, and threw everything we had at Nizi - storm of vengeance, call lighting x3 horrid wiltings x2 - Minsc actually did good damage with his bow and arrows of piercing. I meant to have the entire party range, but accidentally eqiupped stonefire instead of a throwing axe on Lily, so she got within melee range of Nizi, this is the only reason she died - she lasted a good while though before she succumbed. Nizi could not defeat us.


The tree of life fight was vicious with 1/2 the party slain. Before triggering the fight, Paja put magic resistance buff on Minsc, which allowed him to survive. Vessen had protection from magic, but he couldn't cast any spells, so had to sling the entire time. Eventually though Irenicus did succumb.

Battling Irenicus in Hell - we took down the demons, but Lily and Minsc got stunned, so the rest of the party had to deal with Irenicus. Incredibly, Paja managed to get insect plague on him, so his spells were useless. He had some sort of spell turning, but we didn't have a way to bring it down because Imoen hadn't rested since the tree of life fight, so we just meleed/ranged, plus putting as many summons as we could to distract Irenicus. The screenshot below is just before Irenicus defeat, he was near death.


We had to battle Illsaera. With storm of vengeance, summons including a deva, and Minsc putting a beat down with his Wave Halberd and Joshua with the Holy Avenger, the battle was won cleanly. We were summoned to Vessen's pocket plane and brought Sarevok back to life (keeping him around in case Minsc gets chunked, or also if Imoen/Jan get chunked he can dual to a thief and do our thief duties)

We will be doing the 1st pocket plane challenge next...

Modifié par corey_russell, 27 novembre 2011 - 11:44 .

[Easymask]

Congratulations on taking down Irenicus Corey! Well done, seems to me like you have good control over your characters and their encounters - looking forward to your journey through ToB!

[BBMorti]

Sad to see you announce a break Alesia_BH, you definitely never striked me as the kind of person that involve yourself halfhearted into stuff.. I guess the study of nutricion and the likes are no exception.
You will be missed..

I have a small update on Anatole.
She visited the twisted rune.. cast a scroll of protection from undead before letting the lich be summoned, took him down with acid arrows from a safe spot.



Without the lich it was downhill for the rest of the crew.. I did a bit of waiting for buffs to run out on the mage but the others were easily pulled into different types of traps and taken down comfortly.



For kicks I recorded the guarded compound battle: www.youtube.com/watch

I am running out of things to do in chapter 2 and will deside if I want to risk going a bit deeper in to watchers keep or begin chapter 3, and lose my DUHM ability. I will see... It is the third level of the keep I worry about, mainly.

[Grond0]

Good stuff Corey - keep it going.

[Wierdo]

corey_russell wrote...

Vessen the halfling priest of Lathander - FINAL SoA update

Corey, when I read this at the beginning of your post I thought "uh-oh, looks like another one bites the dust". I was glad to see that Vessen has not only survived those really tough battles, but has completed SoA and will continue to prosper into ToB!

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Alessandra's Game:

I just thought I'd let everyone know that I had a little micro-session with Alessandra in the interest of winding her game down. I had her take care of her inventory management tasks and then parked her at the Mithrest Inn. She can sit there and drink her Berduskan Wine until I'm ready to resume.



Good Hunting everyone!

Best,

A.


@Corey- Congrats on finishing SoA!

@BBMorti- I do lots of things by halves and even more things by zeros. I just try to be sure that things I do my halves and zeros are things that either bore or don't matter. 

@HT- I won't vanish this time. Basically, all that is happening is that the couple hours before bed that I've been spending playing is now being spent on reading epidemiology studies. And I have a lot of other hobby/reading blocks throughout the day that could be swapped around so I may end up resuming fairly soon.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 28 novembre 2011 - 02:07 .

[Easymask]

 Greetings yet again dear friends!
The party has made good progress through Amn. They slew a group of foul brigands in the sewers, slew a powerful Mage and freed Haer'Dalis, eliminated the Unseeing Eye, got into a fight at a bar and saved both Trademeet and dealt with some trouble in the Umar Hills. 

They felt quite capable for their next task, to expose the treachery of Mae'Var. Completing the quests as they where given, Reyic Gethras proved to be no match for the group of Adventurers.
All was well untill they had exposed Mae'Var and met him in a very deadly battle. The sound of battle radiated throughout the halls of Mae'Var, and many a Thief met their end at the hands of Itharius and his companions. Facing the foul villain in his hideout, poor Quintos was struck with enough force to send him to meet his ancestors. 


Itharius, Aerie and Torgaddon's hearts where filled with rage, as their long-time traveling companion was dead beyond any means of ressurection. Focusing on the battle at hand, they avenged Quintos and managed to win this dreadful battle.



The party is not quite sure who can or will replace poor Quintos, as the Axethrowing Thief had proven himself in many a battle.
"You will be missed." Itharius said, as the party proceeded to the graveyard district to bury their dear friend.

(The hardest part about SCS to me, seems to be removing all the stoneskins and spell protections from enemy casters. It's insanity, as most of them have at least 3-4 Stoneskins ready by form of either contingencies or spell traps. It feels like all my opponents are level 20 or higher, almost making the fights seems unbalance. No matter, I'll still try my best to win!)

Edit: Also I have a question. Am I allowed to create a new NPC(would be from scratch, not XP-boosted through Shadow Keeper) or am I allowed only to get one of the remaining Baldurs Gate NPC's to join me?

Edit 2: Never mind, I believe I'd find it rather cheesy if I where to do so - thus Itharius has recruited Yoshimo to his cause!

Modifié par Easymask, 28 novembre 2011 - 02:08 .

[Humanoid_Taifun]

Alesia_BH wrote...
I won't vanish this time.

It's probably just a freak coincidence, but that's precisely what my mother said when she abandoned me in the forest.

[Alesia_BH]

Maybe it's a coincidence... 
Or maybe I am your mother. 

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 28 novembre 2011 - 02:44 .

[corey_russell]

Small update: Vessen adventures in ToB: Saradush

Vessen solved a stolen spellbook mystery. As a nice reward, the party was then to purchase boots of speed, a scroll case (I'm keeping important spells that we are picking up that Imoen already has in a spell case, this way if she gets chunked, whoever we replace her with will immediately have much needed spells), fire resistance ring, and a potion bag (this was much needed, the party was overflowing with potions and our current bag is full).

We also, via a rather round-about way, managed to save Ardic and therefore clear Mateo's name.

Er, before all of this, we managed to successfully pass our first challenge. Throughout all of SoA, only Joshua and Imoen had scripts. But there are so many enemies in ToB (and in fact, in this first challenge), that I gave everyone scripts. Joshua, Lily and Minsc will melee attack. Vessen and Imoen will range attack and Paja, with her ridiculous amount of spells is using a summoner script. I pleased with the results of this so far.

I will still have to take control for the bigger fights, but will save me having to control everyone for when fighting trash. When we first entered Saradush, for example, I had Paja call lightning, healed two different characters via potion and that's it -the scripts did the rest. Lily is using the Celestial Fury plus the Kundane - with her 4 attacks, she is often stunning people.

[Easymask]

Looking good Corey, I never use scripts myself - but then again I hate it when the script does something and gets one of my characters killed. 


Update on Itharius and his companions' progress!
Once the party had buried their fallen companion Quintos, they decided to bring along Yoshimo and headed to the Copper Coronet. The Thief was more than happy to join them, and so they made their way to Nalia's Keep. Dual-classed to a Fighter to fill the spot Quintos left behind, Yoshimo proved to be just as good with the Axe as his predecessor. Soon, TorGal was slain and the keep secured!


After the success, the party decided it was time to take up Firekraag's quest, and journied to the Windspear Hills. Having been duped by the Lord Firkraag himself - the party soon found themselves in battle with a foul Rakshasa! Aerie fell in the battle but only momentarily - as the Staff of Ressurection obtained from the foul sewer Mage soon got her back on her feet.


Within Firkraag's domain, the party dealt with Vampires, Double-crossing brigands and Golems!(Oh my!)
Neither Tazok nor Conster proved a challenge either - and soon the party found themselves back in Athkatla. The party is now considering either going to look into the problem at the Temple Ruins, braving the Planar Sphere or visiting Watcher's Keep.

The party at it's current state:

Itharius Level 13 Conjurer, 67 HP using a Sling.

Torgaddon Level 12 Inquisitor, 108 HP using the Blade of Roses.

Yoshimo Level 9 Fighter/11 Bounty Hunter, 83 HP using Hangard's Axe.

Aerie Level 10 Cleric/11 Mage, 43 HP using a Sling.

Modifié par Easymask, 28 novembre 2011 - 05:34 .

[corey_russell]

Er just a nitpick Easymask, but you say "- and soon the party found themselves back in Baldur's Gate". I think what you meant was Athkatla, not Baldur's Gate.

Secondly, scripts will never handle every situation. If a battle is complex I DO turn off the AI for those times. I also turn off the AI for a battle if ever the AI "overrides" my manual commands. Turning off AI is especially important when you need to fight a particular NPC, but your character gets attacked so attacks the attacker rather than your target.

You are also one of the few people I have ever heard of dual-classing Yoshimo to a fighter and using him that way. It's too bad with all this experience you have invested in him you can't keep him past spell hold. In terms of character quality, Imoen is a good replacement, but she can't melee like Yoshimo. If you want to keep having two tanks, you should probably recruit one before you head off to rescue Imoen.

[Easymask]

Haha, it seems I have spent too much time going through Baldurs Gate 1, now doesn't it! Thank you for letting me now!

Aye, I believe the scripts are a powerful tool when used correctly - I just haven't given it the time to try it out properly I reckon.

Well, I really found it to be sad losing Quintos - as he was performing just as I wanted him to. I love Throwing Axes - thus I wanted to pick up another Off-Tank that could do the same. Seeing as I am only playing with four characters, I had to fill the slot with both a thief and a fighter - limiting my choices down to one character. Once Yoshimo leaves, I will pick up Imoen and hopefully Torgaddon can handle the tanking by himself untill ToB. I'll be dual classing Sarevok to a Thief then and get rid of Imoen.

As you probably can tell, I really lost an important character when Quintos died.

[corey_russell]

I understand. In Vessen's run, I really miss Hanna. She was a level 9 fighter dualed to a mage, and she was a powerhouse before she got disintegrated.

But that's part of the challenge of a no-reload -- adapting! Anyone after all can reload, but it says much more when people can persevere despite setbacks.

I've only dual classed Sarevok to a thief once, but he did great when I did so. Even if he doesn't get his fighter levels back, he's a thief with a huge number of HP.

Having only one tank past spellhold will probably be OK. Because by then, you should have enough summons to help off-tank.

Modifié par corey_russell, 28 novembre 2011 - 06:09 .

[Easymask]

Another update on Itharius and his companions' journey!
The party decided to travel onwards to the Temple Ruins. They had put off aiding the community at Umar Hills for far too long, and decided it was time to do so. Yoshimo proved to be a capable replacement to Quintos - and the party dealt with the Shade Lord in a skillful display of swordsmanship as well as Magic arts. 


Having defeated the foul creature easily, the party decided that it was time to put their skill to the test(I have never played BG2 SCS before, so this was a HUGE gamble from my part and I had no idea what to expect)!


They proceeded to prepare using their usual Magics, before entering the lair of the Shadow Dragon. Itharius summoned two Ogres and two Skeletons to aid them in the battle, while Yoshimo positioned himself southwest of the Dragon, Torgaddon to the northeast and the two Mages together at the northwest. As the summons drew most of the Shadow Dragon's attention, Yoshimo flung his axes while Torgaddon attempted to dispel the creature's protections alongside the two Mages. Once they where out of such spells, they conjured Melf's Minute Meteors to pepper the dragon with. Yoshimo unfortunatley drew the Dragon's attention when Torgaddon and the monsters where batted away. He was a brave man, and the party was disheartened as the Shadow Dragon oblitorated the young man.


Things where looking grim as the Dragon was barely injured when Torgaddon fell. Aerie and Itharius looked at eachother as they depleted their spellbooks - barely injuring the massive creature. One of the skeletons where still alive, and the Dragon chased it when Aerie remembered that she had two wands of Lightning with her still, fully charged and ready to go. She threw one over to Itharius,and the hall was filled with sparks and light as they blasted the Dragon with their wands. 


How they did it, amazes Itharius still - but eventually the Dragon fell. It's corpse still burning from the onslaught of the two Mages' wands. 


"Dragonslayers." Itharius whispered to himself, before he raised his arms in the air, yelling the same words out by all the might of his lungs! "Dragonslayers, Aerie! Dragonslayers!" His smile soon came to a halt, and he lowered his arms as he saw his companion standing over what little was left of poor Yoshimo. Not even his equipment remained. 


Itharius ressurected Torgaddon with his wand, and the Paladin quickly got back on his feet. "I think it's about high time we returned to Athkatla." He said, walking away from the foul halls. Itharius nodded, then realized how weak he felt. The Dragon had nearly slain him, though it would seem that Lady Luck truly smiled upon him this day.



(Now I know what that monster is capable of. It was insanity going after it, and I am still thankful for noticing the Lightning Wands - in addition to the fact that they actually worked wonders against the Dragon! What a fight!)

Seems like the party is back in the market for a Thief/Off-tank then. 

Edit: I am really at a loss of how to replace both Quintos and Yoshimo now. 'tis hard to have Nalia or Jan fill the spot of both thief and off-tank. Perhaps I should create a new NPC to join them at the starting level? If, again, that's allowed?

Modifié par Easymask, 28 novembre 2011 - 07:44 .

[corey_russell]

Easymask:

A few notes on your last post:
* The shadow dragon has a level draining breath attack. A little trick is you could have had each party member equip a scroll of lesser restoration, so that they they can use it if they get hit by the breath attack (I know it can do at least 4 levels drained at at time). If they get level drained below level 1 they become "chunked"
* I've looked at the rules and it does say you can use multi-player to create characters. It doesn't say anything about mid-stream, however, so I would have to say that adding a NPC would be "legal". However, you could do this ad infinitum, and doing this repeatedly is definitely against the spirit of the challenge. Whole point is to adapt to what you have (e.g. whatever characters are still in the game). Generally speaking mods or shadowkeeper if necessary should be done at the beginning, not in the middle of the play (except for bugs of course).
* The shadow dragon is weak against lightning, as you have discovered

[Easymask]

Thank you yet again for the information corey, much appriciated!

I do wish I had known all this prior to the battle, but I was just in the mood for a challenge - spur of the moment if you will. It was pure insanity, I can tell you that.

The Dragon actually drained Four, Two, Four, Two every time it drained levels - killing Yoshimo outright. I'm just glad Itharius was level 13, thus allowing him to actually survive(he was only targetted once). 12 levels at a time is just insanity, probably added by SCS or something if it usually only does aprox 4. Madness!

I will be using the NPC's still left in the game then - I might increase the number of characters in my party to 5 then - but I will not create any more characters(sure wish I had freed Minsc and Jaheira in the begining right now!). Thank you for explaining that part to me, as it makes perfect sence.

Modifié par Easymask, 28 novembre 2011 - 08:37 .

[corey_russell]

I think upping your party to 5 members so all the roles you want covered is a good idea.

I once had a no-reload run go all the way to Melissan, but something like 9 characters got chunked along the way (using only BioWare NPCs) - ending up losing since everyone was under leveled except for my character of course.

Forgot to mention, negative plane protection can protect from the level draining, it's a divine spell. It's handy to have a number of these memorized so you can refresh it on the tank mid-battle. It lasts 5 rounds.

[Alesia_BH]

Easymask wrote...
I am really at a loss of how to replace both Quintos and Yoshimo now. 'tis hard to have Nalia or Jan fill the spot of both thief and off-tank. Perhaps I should create a new NPC to join them at the starting level? If, again, that's allowed?

If you are interested in doing something unorthodox but potentially fun, Nalia and Jan can both be converted into capable, high APR, melee fighters. It does take quite a lot of pre-buffing and micro-mangement though.

Just after I returned from my 5 years break, I did a melee Sorceress solo in BGII-SCS, she made it up to Suldanesselar before I got her killed by resting outdoors with a depleted spellbook (the Rakshasa spawns are pretty nasty in SCS). She also solo no reloaded BG1-SCS. I've provided a link to the BGII version below if you are interested. I've also uploaded one of my favorite videos of her in action. It may give you some ideas if you choose to convert Nalia or Jan into melee menaces.

http://social.biowar...ndex/3120942/10


It's a high maintenance path, but it can be fun and effective. 


Best,

A.


Btw. Just a quick note on Level Drain protection. In addition to the AoP, the IMoD, and the cleric spell Negative Plane Protection, you can cast Negative Plane Protection on your entire party via Limited Wish. As with the Cleric spell, the bedeviling thing is the short duration.

Btw II. I just noted your comment about the SCS mages. Their levels are the same as in vanilla- they are just using their spell slots more effectively. The are also given Contingencies, Sequencer, and Triggers which  lets them cast more spells per battle.

If you haven't done so already, I'd definitely recommened trying tactical ammo on them (Arrows of Dispelling Elemental Arrows, Poisoned Ammo, and Darts of Stunning). They'll start seeming harmless.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 28 novembre 2011 - 09:59 .